The Invisible Woman

There are biopic films that span a lifetime of a notorious individual, and there are biopics whereas the time period of the notorious person is just a slice of their life as with the case of "The Invisible Woman". What makes these type of biopics are the fact that one particular area of their life can be dissected more so as to delineate certain aspects of their lives deeper than just surface.

At the height of his career, Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) meets and befriends a younger woman, an actress, Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones) who becomes his secret lover until his death.
It starts with Nelly walking on the beach at Margate, England in 1883 years after Dickens has passed away. She realizes she's late for a high school rehearsal of which she teaches. She enters and apologies to all including the Rev. William Benham (John Kavanaugh) and as she conducts the rehearsal, which is one based on a Dickens' novel, she reflects back to the time in which she and Dickens met in Manchester which was through her mother, Mrs. Frances Ternan (Kristin Scott Thomas). This was during the Victorian era which was an extremely conservative time of history, so even their meeting was considered scandalous much less the affair. Interestingly, the one that should have been incredibly upset by the affair but was not, was Dickens' wife, Catherine (Joanna Scanlan), but she half-expected it considering Dickens' high energy and free-spirited attitude. Catherine's statement toward Nelly was that she will find that she will have to compete for the attention of Charles from his public as she has had to endure for years. This had haunted Nelly up to and past his death.

Others to round out the cast are Tom Hollander as Wilkie Collins, Dickens' collaborator, Tom Burke as George Wharton Robinson as Nelly's understanding husband, Michael Marcus as Charley Dickens, Charles' son, Amanda Hale as Fanny Ternan, Nelly's sister, Perdita Weeks as Maria Ternan, Nelly's sister, Richard McCabe as Mr. Mark Lemon, one of Dickens' fellow actors, Gabriel Vick as Mr. Berger, another of Dickens' fellow actors, and Michelle Fairley as Caroline Graves.

This was directed with passion and intensity by director Ralph Fiennes ("Coriolanus" '11). Obviously this guy is a consummate actor--he's acted in a ton of films, but he might have found another niche in directing. Of course, he wouldn't be the first actor that went the directing route. Think about it, Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard, Robert Redford, Peter Berg, even Ben Stiller to a degree. So why not this guy, especially if he definitely has a flair for it? This was written by Abi Morgan ("Brick Lane" '07, "Royal Wedding" (TV movie) '10, "Shame" '11, "The Iron Lady" '11). This writer was actually one of the reasons why I went to see this, because her writing is thorough, accurate, and well delineated. There were a couple of slow places in script here, but all in all, it was informative and entertaining. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the costume designer, Michael O'Connor ("The Last King of Scotland" '06, "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" '08, "The Duchess" '08, "The Eagle" '11, "Jane Eyre" '11, "Dredd" '12). I bring him up since he has been nominated for an Oscar in the costumes category, which O'Connor deserves.

As a period film, this has it all--sweeping photography, great art direction, costumes, makeup and hair by the comparable Jenny Shircore. Couple these with fine acting by Fiennes, Jones and even Scanlan, and you have an insightful story which shows the grimness of the day, but is also very entertaining.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                       Rated: R                        111mins.